The last few weeks it has been very dry, so when we wanted to fill up our water barrel on top of the tower again on Tuesday evening, the two bottom containers turned out to be empty. Fortunately, we have an extra water barrel on a smaller tower on the river side next to the house that we can fill with river water using a gasoline powered pump. We wanted to do the job before breakfast on Wednesday morning. So we did, but we needed to wait for breakfast until 10 o’clock.

The engine wouldn’t start, so we had to find out what was the cause. Marco and Bruce, our Canadian friend, found the problem to be in the carburetor which was stuck with dirt in old gasoline. They took it off and tried to clean it, but only succeeded after the second try. Thank God the engine would start and we could fill the barrel.

The plan was to get on top of the roof after breakfast to replace two plexiglass corrugated sheets (over 20 years old). They crumbled, which can lead to dangerous situations. This job was postponed until Thursday morning because the sun was already burning too bright again. Do you remember “Be flexible”?

Last week we unexpectedly had 4 guests from the Netherlands for dinner. When we shared our desire to eat pancakes we suddenly all felt like it would be a splendid idea, so pancakes were prepared instead of sandwiches. Because of the large group around the dining table we needed extra plates that were still in the pantry. When taking the box away, the termites turned out to have been using that box as a living quarters. Another job that could not be postponed surfaced right away.

Wednesday morning Marjolein started to empty one side of the pantry. Listening carefully you could hear the termites gnawing at the wood of the cabinet which was made of plywood. We had to demolish the cabinet. We experienced cupboards disappearing from the house one by one in the last few years.

Together with the people in the village we enjoyed the visit of Wilma, ‘our’ maternity nurse. She did a great job in the clinic. The health assistants of the medical mission have been able to learn from her expertise in the field of mother and childcare. Unfortunately she was unable to witness a delivery, so she ‘has to’ come back again. As for the Wajanas of Apetina, she is more than welcome. On behalf of the village chief Nuwahe Aptuk and the captains, we thank her again for coming.

The first Sunday of March we made a beautiful canoe trip to Tutukampoe. Via a number of rapids, along large rocks in the river, which were clearly visible due to the low water level. On the way back we even saw a few otters swimming.

Marco was asked to speak during the service and to her great surprise Marjolein was asked to translate. Quite a challenge, but luckily shewas familiar with the sermon, that helped a lot. It is moving to see how the former witch doctor continues to follow Jesus.

Last Monday afternoon we had our two weekly meeting with the elders. This time with Bruce as a guest who shared about the progress of the hydro electric power project. He shared about Jesus and that He should be the first in our lives. The elders fully agreed with this call. It was completely in line with their preparation for the Easter conference next month.

morning we had a good meeting with the chief, the captains and a basja at the chief’s home. We were able to tell about the hydro electric power project and the Foundations for Farming project, of which the training on the testing grounds in Lawa will start next month, a week after Easter.

Here too the corona virus keeps people busy. They pray for protection and preservation because they are such a small group. For the time being, we have no infected people here and there is little traffic between Apetina and Saint Laurent in French Guiana, where there are people diagnosed with the Covid-19 virus. Suriname now has shut its borders for international flights. The schools have an early and long Easter holidays of at least one month.

This Sunday morning after service we showed a short movie on how easily a virus can spread. We talked about precautions the people have to take themselves. The government prohibits gatherings of more than 100 people, so this Easter there will be no guests from other villages coming over to celebrate together.

We changed our plans also. Since our trainers for Founations for Farming are not allowed to come and we don’t want to be a risk to the Wajana’s, we decided to fly from Apetina straight to Lawa and stay in the interior. Our daughter Elisabeth bought the needed groceries in the city and MAF will bring them along tomorrow when we are due to fly out again.